I compiled this summary mostly for myself, but it might also be of interest to family, friends, maybe a few acquaintances, total strangers, and potential stalkers.

And I'm putting this on my own damn website instead of Facebook. I'm going to try doing this more often unless they start giving me a % of the ad revenues generated from my content. But it's also for those who aren't on Facebook.

Most people do their annual reviews in December, which has always seemed wrong to me because, well ... the year isn't over yet! What if something amazing happens after it's already been published?! Although now that I see how long it's taken me I concede it is reasonable to at least get a head start before year's end. Then maybe next year I'll get this published on New Year's Day.

Meanwhile, here's my review of 2016! While most people perceive it as being one of the shittiest years ever, for me it was the best I've had in at least this entire decade, mostly because of self-improvement but also because I don't perceive the major social events of 2016 -- most notably celebrity deaths, the U.S. presidential election, and "fake news" to be as depressing and/or as profound a change as what's already been happening for decades.

Celebrity deaths are sad when they mean so much to us on a personal level, but I focus on celebrating their lives while taking charge of my own. The David Bowie party at Club 21, for example, was hella fun. Never forget the purpose of life is to live.

For many people the country appears to have gone insane re: politics, but I was emotionally prepared for either of the terrible outcomes from the dog and pony show that is our presidential election. Nothing profoundly new has actually happened. Yes, Trump will likely be the worst president we've ever had, but put it in context of the Bush-era crimes against humanity ... which Obama expanded upon as well. The best thing about Trump winning is that self-professed "liberals" are finally getting off their asses again and fighting against the tyranny of our own government and hopefully they'll stop believing in the insidious false propaganda of "humanitarian intervention" and "Just War".

Unfortunately there are still so many Americans who are manipulated by "fake news", and what they don't realize is that the fake news actually comes from the mainstream sources who are controlled by those who profit from endless unjust war and other forms of corruption. I feel good about all the work I did towards exposing more truth about American Imperialism and what our government and the Deep State's ulterior motives are in Syria, etc. While I'm wary of all politicians, especially presidents because no one person should have so much power in any nation, nevertheless Assad's liberation of Aleppo is far better for the citizens of Syria than replacing him with an exponentially worse puppet of Western Big Oil. I don't necessarily trust Putin either, and he has his own motives re: energy transportation from the Middle East, but at least Russia actually defeated ISIS instead of what our own gov't has done, i.e. covertly supporting the worst terrorists on this planet for the purpose of "regime change".

In 2016 I also continued researching and learning about Endocannabinoid Deficiency and how Cannabis is a conditionally essential nutrient. Meanwhile, Cannabis laws across the nation are finally progressing and I still have hope that we can recover from the brink of disaster.

Now on to my personal accomplishments & milestones:

First off at the beginning of the year I conquered a 3-month migration of servers and hosted domains into the cloud, finally giving myself the peace of mind knowing that I'm not the only one responsible for handling what had become increasingly less rare moments of extreme technical difficulty. I'm no longer blasted with alerts from my phone in the middle of the night, I'm not having to rush downtown to reboot when there is no other option, I'm not worrying about my businesses when I'm out of town, and surpisingly I ended up saving $200/mth in hosting fees!

Branched out into yet another business model of e-commerce powered by Magento. East Portland Coffee Roasters is my first client for that service and online ordering will be available soon.

Accepted the invitation from my great friends at AFRU Gallery to join their crew, serving as marketing guru, booking bands, and occasional DJ. I've met so many amazing people! I've already booked some great bands and more to come. And I also got the ball rolling to add Curator to my list of titles. The date is TBA but next year there will be a First Friday featuring Chris Bigalke aka Showdeer!

Brought DAVID YOW to the Clinton Street Theater and after party at Dot's Cafe! Thanks also to Lani Jo Leigh and Eli Johnson!

In September Angela and I had a really fun two-week vacation first in Astoria, one of many places where we've actually considered moving to at some point in the future if Portland becomes completely unbearable. The weather on the coast was perfect! The next week we went to Mt Rainier and it was so much fun that we're going back in the springtime to see how much the water rises, especially at the stunning viewpoint of the Nisqually River from the bridge on Paradise Road.

Then in October I completed my fifth decade of out-of-womb existence! Details below re: amazing show at The Know! (How's that for some rhyming huh?) I came to realize shortly after my 50th that I needed to finally follow through on those major lifestyle changes I've been promising to myself. I've quit the binge partying, dialed in my nutrients and exercise, and found the courage to have my lower right wisdom tooth extracted before it caused too much trouble. I now weigh less than I have in at least two decades! At 50 years old I'm in better health since I can't even remember when.

I've also been organizing and cleaning up the huge mess in my office. At the bottom of a pile of all kinds of shit on one of my desks I found what may have been the literally and figuratively buried reason for why I let it go for so long, greeting cards from family and friends expressing their condolences after the death of my mother in 2009. I will always miss her, but I've come to learn from past mistakes instead of dwelling on all the regrets for things I wish I had done differently. Though it's a myth that the body replaces itself every 7 years, in many ways I'm not the same person at all that I was back then.

I do regret having not attended some recent birthdays. Here's a belated shout out to Haggy, Sam Henry, and Kitty Diggins. Nothing personal, I just need to avoid bars indefinitely! I'm hopeful that some day I'll learn how to cope with loud 'n crowded sardine cans without alcohol, and I don't regret getting my life in order and getting shit done. Not in the least!

And finally at the end of the year I found myself for the first time in as long as I can remember ... NOT overly anxious nor depressed about the holidays. Remember kids, allowing these arbitrary dates on the calendar to have such an effect on us is like "letting the terrorists win"!

Memorable events (if yours not listed here don't take it personally as there were many I missed for various reasons):